CIVS Kicks off $7 Million Research Project with U.S. DOE for Blast Furnace Research

A virtual kick-off meeting was held on Thursday, September 9 to officially start the $7 million project to develop a next-generation Integrated Virtual Blast Furnace (IVBF). 37 attendees joined the meeting from Cleveland-Cliffs, Linde, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Purdue University Northwest, Purdue University West Lafayette, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office, and the U. S. Steel. All partners will have significant roles in the development of the IVBF.

The project aims to develop a tool for industrial iron and steelmaking companies to improve blast furnace energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions, and to develop a virtual training model for workforce development.

The three-year project will leverage CIVS expertise in high-fidelity physics-based simulation and visualization as well as advancements in Industry 4.0 techniques such as machine learning and data analytics in collaboration with a broad team of industry, academia, and national laboratory partners to make a significant positive impact on the U.S. steel industry in the blast furnace and beyond, through the implementation of the platform to other industrial processes. Expected impacts from the work include reducing energy consumption by a target of 4.5% in the blast furnace and downstream processes, enabling the use of low-carbon injected fuels to reduce CO₂ emissions, and improving productivity and product quality where possible.

For more information, read the PNW news release.